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Hi and thanks for stopping by. MBWpicks.com was started by Paul Mayson in order to catalog the picks from the podcast/netcast MacBreak Weekly. It has quickly evolved into a fine place to discuss the show and the picks - so please chime in when the mood hits you.

Picks from MBW 177: iPad

No official picks but lots of iPad talk. Ã?â??Ã?Â What do you guys think? Ã?â??Ã?Â Getting one or taking a pass? Ã?â??Ã?Â If buying, what’s the move – wait for 3G, or just get the WiFi version. Ã?â??Ã?Â Better to use with a MiFi? Ã?â??Ã?Â Which version do you have on your want list?

6 thoughts on “Picks from MBW 177: iPad”

I’ll get the 16gb wifi only version, for my seven year old’s birthday. She’s done well at school this year and loves my ipod touch. I was going to get her a touch but this seems a perfect device for her.

Definitely! 32 GB WiFi only seems perfect for a coffee table in the family room to pick up while the kids are watching TV.

We have an 13″ MacBook in the kitchen, 24′ iMac in my office, an iPhone, iPod touch and a Kindle but I would be more apt to pick the iPad (isn’t that going to confuse people in Boston ;-)) to read the “paper” or just surf or play a game.

As for the cost, I think someone compared it to a Harmony remote. I received the 1100 for Christmas, I think that was close to $400! Returned it for the Harmony One, which is much better, but that’s only for a remote. And how much were people paying for those portable DVD players a few years back so the kids could watch a movie in the car? Not to mention that most entertainment systems in cars add at about $2000 to the cost of the car and you can’t take that with you. Give me 3 of these for my kids and I’m still coming out ahead! My point is that $500 for this seems like a pretty good deal.

To everyone who is tearing Apple a new one saying that they fell way short of expectations, who wants a laptop without a keyboard? That makes no sense.

This is absolutely in a seperate category, though maybe not by itself, it’s a media tablet. Built, I suspect, mostly to inform and entertain, not to do any heavy computing.

I thought I’d get just get the 16g Wifi for the Kitchen. I now intend cancelling my home delivery newpaper and magazine. I am prepared to subscribe to online versions. Would use Contacts, and iCal intergrated for all the family at this centeral point. Also, I plan to use skpe in the near future, making it easy to kill of my land line. So I see this saving money at the same time as improving other time effeciencies and house hold routines such as shopping lists and to do items for the whole family. Just perfect Apple.

As I don’t see this as a device I tote around everywhere, as much as keep around the house, I thought 3g could be superfluous here.

I thought I’d get the $499 16 gig no 3g, as I wait for possible real hardware upgrades such as a camera. And I’d still have a cheap extra window into the web.

But then I thought, gee, my iPhone is 32 gigs, wouldn’t it be easier to manage if I just kept the profiles similar for both devices? Its the media that is going to take the most room. So maybe a 32 gig WiFi only seems the most natural low maintenence way to go.

BUT I’m a big GPS nut, and would love to have the 3g model for this. BUT I do not want to pay for 3g access, if only for a month, just to tap the GPS abilities. There are also Apps that expect the GPS. And there may be apps with larger footprints that need more space so maybe I do need the 840 dollar model.

More likely to lean towards 3g model if the GPS works WITHOUG having to pony up a 3g subscription even prepay.

Seriously though, the iPad looks great and if I didn’t have an ipod touch and I was loaded with cash I might even buy one. They probably won’t relase it here in Australia for another 2 years if the iPhone is anything to go by though.